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Is There in Truth No Beauty?
' |image= |series= |production=60043-62 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Jean Lisette Aroeste |director=Ralph Senensky |imdbref=tt0708433 |guests=Diana Muldaur as Dr. Miranda Jones and David Frankham as Larry Marvick |previous_production=Spock's Brain |next_production=The Empath |episode=TOS C05 |airdate=18 October 1968 |previous_release=And the Children Shall Lead |next_release=Spectre of the Gun |story_date(s)=Stardate 5630.7 |previous_story=Spock's Brain |next_story=The Empath }} Summary The Medusans are a race with wonderful mental abilities, including navigational capabilities exceeding those of humanoids. Physically, the Medusans appear as energy patterns arranged in frequencies and colours that are too dazzling for humanoid eyes to behold. In a pioneering experiment, the lovely Dr. Miranda Jones beams aboard the Enterprise with Kolos, a Medusan encased within a protective container. Travelling with them is Lawrence Marvick, one of the men who designed the engines of the starship Enterprise. Marvick, rendered irrational by his love for Miranda, is to aid in an exchange of technical information with the Medusan, “translated” by the telepathic Dr. Jones. Jelous of the attention Dr. jones lavishes on the alien, and infuriated by her refusal to marry him, Marvick attempts to kill the Medusan. The sight of the alien renders Marvick insane. In the throes of his madness, he takes control of the Enterprise, plunging the starship into another dimension. Mr. Spock dons a protective visor, and melds minds with the Medusan to guide the Enterprise back home. While seperating from Kolos, Spock forgets his visor. The Vulcan's life and sanity are in danger, until Dr. Jones puts aside her jealousy of Spock's superiour telepathic abilities, and cures the Vulcan by entering his temporarily disordered mind. Finally, Miranda's ability to look upon the Medusan without harm is explained. She is revealed to be completely blind, her dress being a complex sensor web that gives her the ability to “see” obstacles and judge distances. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # When Jones beams aboard with Kollos in his box, Spock actually greets Jones as if she is the ambassador. The Vulcan knows of the Medusans’ reputation for hideousness. Does he actually believe Jones is the ambassador? It is probably assumed that Kollos would use Miranda as a conduit for direct communication. # At a dinner attended by the senior staff and Marvick, Jones senses that someone is plotting murder. The episode shows the image of Kollos's box impressing itself on Jones's mind. Later, Marvick visits Jones in her quarters. Suddenly she senses the intent again, and for the second time the episode shows us an image of Kollos's box. With a shocked expression, Jones confronts Marvick over his feelings and then says, “Who is it you want to kill, Larry? ls it me?" Well . . . maybe it's . . . Kollos? After all, she did see his image every time she sensed the desire to murder. This could be a stress induced hallucination. # After arriving at the conclusion that Spock should mind-meld with Kollos, Kirk takes Jones on a walk in the flower garden to distract her. In other words, instead of making her part of the process and convincing her of the necessity of allowing the mind meld, they resort to subterfuge. If l were Jones, l would find this highly insulting. True, she does have strong feelings about the matter, but isn't it inevitable that she will discover the plan? Was Kirk counting on wining and dining the woman for the next several hours? Does the esteemed captain really put that much faith in his charm? She does make a scene when she finds out, but she also eventually submits to the situation. Miranda must have realised the need to accept the logic of the situation, especially as Kirk was able to distract her long enough for Spock to gain Kollos's consent. # At one point Jones says that she and Kollos had planned to mind-meld when they reached the Medusan “vessel.” What Medusan vessel? At the beginning of the episode, Kirk says the Enterprise will take the Medusan ambassador back to his home world. Something could have prevented Miranda and Kollos from being collected by the Medusan vessel, which would explain the need for them to travel aboard Enterprise. # Following his recovery, Spock stumbles into McCoy's office from the outside corridor. Why didn’t he just walk through sick bay? Wouldn't it be more logical to take the direct route? He's still slightly disorientated. # At the beginning of the episode, everyone vacates the transporter room, and Spock dons a special visor. Then the Vulcan beams Kollos and Jones aboard. At the end of the episode, Spock dons the visor again, but Kirk hangs around to watch them leave. Isn't this supposed to be dangerous, or was everyone being overly cautious the first time? Kollos in secure in his container, the danger was probably found to have been slightly exaggerated, and Kirk is willing to take a risk to ensure Miranda and Kollos have left. Equipment Oddities # After Spock sees the Medusan, Kirk fires a phaser at the Vulcan to stun him. The captain clearly points the phaser at Spock's head, but the blast hits Spock in the stomach region. How can it do that? The phaser could have an adjustable emitter. # Moments later, the scene shows us Spock strapped to a bed in sick bay. Hopefully the attendants used heavy-duty straps, because the first officer broke through the regular ones in Operation: Annihilate! They were most likely reinforced after the Deneva incident. Continuity and Production Problems # Apparently the fashion craze begun by Kelinda - that spunky European-accented alien from By Any Other Name - is catching on around the galaxy. Dr. Miranda Jones fixes her hair the same way. Kalinda could have developed the style based on the reconnaissance scans the Kelvans must have made of the Milky Way, in order to convincingly adpot human appearance. Internet Movie Database Revealing mistakes # When the welcoming party sits down to chit chat, the wide shot shows the waitresses at the table in place waiting for their cue. They are waiting for the party to settle themselves in their seats. # When Miranda shouts "That's a lie!", Kirk responds, "Oh, yes it is!", revealing that Diana Muldaur should have said "That's not true!". Kirk actually says 'Oh yes?', in a questioning tone, in an attempt to get Miranda to admit the truth - that she is jealous of Spock. Information from the transcript via http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/62.htm # When Dr. McCoy reveals that Dr. Jones is blind, Spock brings his hand up to her face, and she instinctively jerks her head back slightly. If she were truly blind, she shouldn't have seen Spock's hand and reacted. The movement of Spock's hand was detected by the sensor net Miranda is wearing over her dress at this point. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 - 4:33 am: I haven't seen this episode in years, but if the Enterprise left the galaxy, then why didn't any crewmembers develop godlike powers like Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner did in Where No Man Has Gone Before? Better shielding, perhaps? Either that or a lack of people with a high ESP rating on board this time around (Miranda Jones dosen't count - she probably developed a natural immunity, after learning how not to read minds during her four years of study on Vulcan.) Notes Sources Category:The Original Series Category:Episodes